Monday, March 31, 2014

1)What
were your favorite books growing up? I would be hard-pressed
to designate specific books as “favorites.” Basically, I had a profound love of
reading as a kid so anything was fair game – everything from Encyclopedia
Brown to Donald Duck and the Witch Next Door.That said, most of my early reading consisted
of myths, fables, legends and the like.Thus, in addition to standard fare like the Arabian Nights and
stories by the Brothers Grimm, I also read a lot of mythology (Greek, Norse,
what have you), the fairy tale anthologies of Ruth Manning-Sanders, and more.
As I grew older, that naturally segued into fantasy and sci-fi (although,
again, I read all genres).

2)Now
that you have, let’s say—some life experience, what would you tell your younger
self? Ha! I have to laugh at
that, as there are about a million things I’d like to tell my younger self (the
most important of which is probably to buy Apple stock at 3 bucks a
share).

With a focus on life in
general, I’d probably steal a line from an old Marine recruiting commercial and
say: “To compete, you’ve got to be strong. But to win, you’ve got to be smart.”
To me, that quote always emphasized the whole person concept: Develop yourself
in body and mind. Fully nurture and promote all your skill sets, because
you will probably have to rely on more than one if you want to thrive.

With respect to writing,
I’d probably simply advise my younger self to keep at it and continue producing
manuscripts – even if no one else is reading them.That way, you’ll continue to hone your skills
and learn your craft. I essentially took a multi-year hiatus from writing
(although that had more to do with my career than anything else), and I just
keep thinking about all the manuscripts I could have produced during that time,
regardless of whether or not a traditional publisher was interested in me.

3)Describe
your typical day. Ideally, I get up around
5:00 a.m. and write for an hour or so. Then I get ready for the day job -
breakfast, grooming, etc. – before heading to the office. I have a notebook
that I keep with me at all times, which I use to jot down any good ideas for
novels that come to me during the day.

After work – assuming I get home early enough –
it’s dinner with the wife and kids. (If I’m late, it’s dinner by myself, usually
in front of the television.)Following
this, there’s typically a bit of family time and finding out how everyone’s day
went.By 8:00 p.m., we try to get the
younger kids into bed, at which point I start writing again. (Somewhere in
there I also try to blog, respond to email, interact with other authors, etc.)
I usually keep at it until around midnight, at which point I retire for the
evening.

Rinse and repeat.

4)Who
is your favorite character in your books? Tricky question. (It’s almost like asking a parent
which child is their favorite.)

I’m still essentially new to the self-publishing game, so I
only have two series out at the moment, with my Kid Sensation novels
being the more popular of the two.Limiting my selection only to what I’ve actually published, I’d probably
say that my favorite character is that of Mouse in the Kid Sensation
series, which are superhero novels.

Mouse isn’t the primary character. He’s the leader of the
world’s greatest superhero team, although he doesn’t seem to have superpowers
himself. Still, he’s won the respect and admiration of his colleagues, and
shown himself to be a capable leader and formidable opponent.

In short, he’s extremely competent, and that’s why I like
him; even with his “limitations” (i.e., the apparent lack of superpowers), his
resourcefulness is an incredible equalizer.

5)What
do you do when writer’s block shows up, settles in, and makes itself
comfortable? For me, stories tend to tell themselves; often when I’m
writing, it seems like there’s a voice in my head orchestrating the action and
I’m merely taking dictation. Thus, I’m probably lucky in that if I can just get
to the computer and start typing; the rest seems to take care of itself. Thus,
my challenge is typically just having an adequate amount of time to actually
sit down and start banging on the keyboard.

That said, there are occasions when – after spending 12
hours staring at a monitor for the day job – I just can’t stomach the idea of
sitting in front a screen again. So, instead of immediately trying to write,
I’ll convince myself to simply go back and read maybe the last couple of pages
that I completed. Needless to say, there will be some edits that have to be
made, and as I read over what I’ve done and make some tweaks, that “voice” I
mentioned earlier will usually start making itself heard again.Before I know it, I’m typing again and
continuing the story.

Beyond that, there are simply times when a scene simply
won’t come together in a way that I’m happy with. I don’t really know of a
solution to that except to bull your way thorough it – keep trying different
things until you come up with something satisfactory.

6)Do
you find yourself pulling details from “real life” or does your imagination
rule the roost? I absolutely pull details
from real life and incorporate them into my work. Even though fantasy/sci-fi is
my wheelhouse in terms of writing, I think it’s important to have those “real
life” moments in my work – things that readers can connect and relate to
because they are universal in a sense.

For instance, in a couple
of my books I have scenes where characters compete against each other in
sports. My oldest son loves those, because he considers himself a jock and he
can relate to things that the characters are doing/feeling when they face off
against each other.

7)What
was the first manuscript you wrote (even if it never saw the light of day)? That’s another question
that I don’t really have a direct answer to. I didn’t really start out writing
novels. I initially wrote short stories, poems – anything that I thought had a
chance of getting published.

I suppose the first thing
I wrote that could probably be considered an actual manuscript was a children’s
book.Of course, nobody was interested
in it. Moreover, since this was in the days before everyone had a computer at
home, I had actually typed it up on a typewriter. Eventually, unwanted and
unloved, the manuscript got buried amongst a mass of salmagundi as I moved from
place to place. In short, while I’m sure I still have a copy of it somewhere,
I’m really not in a position to put my hands on it. (But if I ever do, I will
definitely publish it, as I still think it’s a great story.)

That said, what I
personally consider to be my first manuscript was a screenplay adaptation of
the sci-fi classic Logan’s Run. Lest there be any confusion, let me
state that I’m not talking about the 1976 film (I’m not that old), nor am I
speaking of the remake that has been in development hell for roughly two
decades. Basically, I read the book and it completely blew my mind. I’ve never
read anything like it before or since, and all I could think was that – with
modern-day special effects – it would make a fantastic
movie. So I wrote a script for it, without any options, rights, etc.

(Just to show that I was
trying to be aboveboard, though, I did reach out to the studio that owned the
rights. However, they were going through an organizational shift at the time,
and their legal department told me they wouldn’t be willing to discuss the sale
of any such properties for about six months. Unfortunately, we never
reconnected (which is probably just as well since, had they given me a price, I
would have found myself scrambling trying to raise the money). Thus – while I
still have the script I drafted – I never obtained the rights and therefore
never came close to having my script considered for an actual film.)

After the Logan’s Run
script, the writing bug bit me hard, but my focus was now on movie screenplays.
I cranked out a couple of them and was even lucky enough to land an agent
(although it took me a year to get representation), but I never sold anything.
Eventually, my agent and I parted ways, and as I got settled in my career I
basically stopped writing for anything other than the day job. It’s only in
recent years that the idea of becoming an author actually arose in my brain
again like some specter from the grave, making me start to write again.

8)Have
you ever pursued traditional publishing? Or did you go straight for indie
publishing? As I mentioned earlier, I
did try the traditional publishing route ages ago. No one was interested, so I
moved on. This time around, I didn’t even bother; I just decided to go indie
and haven’t looked back.

9)What
Works In Progress are brewing?Any
target dates for publication? Well, I mentioned earlier that I have two series out; one is
Kid Sensation, and the other is the Warden series. I’m close to
finishing up Warden #3 (haven’t firmly settled on a title yet), and have
high hopes of getting it out soon.

In addition, I’ve started on Kid Sensation #4 (the
working title is Revelation), as well as a separate book about the
character Mouse from that same world.

Furthermore, while I don’t know if I would consider them
works-in-progress (since in some cases there are only a few paragraphs), I’ve
started on:

1)No less than three different paranormal series;

2)Three different dystopian series;

3)Two sci-fi/space opera series; and

4)Two epic fantasy series.

And, as if those weren’t enough, I also have a western, a
romance, and a mystery/suspense story that I’ve begun. (That last one I could
probably finish in a few weeks if I actually devoted some serious time to it.)

Long story short, I’m a writer and I feel like I have a lot
of stories to tell. However, as said stories are in various genres, I’ll
probably adopt a few pen names in order to protect my brand (to the extent that
I have one).

As to release dates, it’s a little hard to say. If
I could write the way I know I can, I’d be trying to get something new out
every 6 weeks or so. However, life (usually in the form of the day job), has a
tendency to get in the way. That being the case, I’m more comfortable giving a
publication order than release dates. But even then, nothing is set in stone,
since I tend to write the story that’s making the most noise in my head,
clamoring to get out.Bearing that in
mind, the next book is sure to be Warden #3.After that, I may go ahead and tee up one of
the sci-fi novels, since it’s been gnawing away at my brain recently. After
that, the schedule is a bit up in the air, although I’ll probably finish Kid
Sensation #4 and the Mouse novel.

10)How
can fans reach you? I’m honestly humbled that
anyone would even be that interested, but I’m most easily reached via the
following:

He's been doing a bang-up job of getting me away from my keyboard for walks, as well as successfully protecting the premises from squirrels. (Hey, somebody has to do it!) As a reward for all his hard work, I take him down to the local doggy daycare. He gets to pal around with the guys and run free in the fenced-in yard (hmmm, I guess that's not technically "free," but whatever).

The moments leading up to the realization that 1) he's going for a car ride and 2) it's to a fun place (where he gets to sniff doggy butts and not where they do unspeakable things to his butt) are amusing and frustrating.

The first clue that he's headed for a car ride is the simple act of picking up his car harness. I've decided, after several dogs and several instance of less than safe driving, that dog harnesses are the way to go. The harness sits on a little cart by the kitchen door. Now, we don't actually take Dudley out the kitchen door, so I'm not sure why the harness lives there, but that's where it is. And God forbid you accidentally touch it while reaching for something else on that cart. Dudley is trained...attuned, if you will...to hear the soft clink of the snaps on that thing.

This morning, I picked up the harness, and as expected, Dudley appeared at the top of the steps in the office and looked at me. The stubby tail went swoosh, swoosh, swoosh like a rapid-fire windshield wiper. At my nod, he shot down the stairs. He preceded to run around in circles at my feet - the international sign of Yes! Yes! Yes! I called him into the bedroom, had him get up on the bed so I could get the harness around his squirming body. This process takes a few minutes. He cannot stand still - at all. He wiggles; he jumps up to kiss my face; he jumps off the bed to head to the door - even if the harness isn't completely on him yet.

I finally get the harness hooked up and the leach on him. I suppose I don't really have to put a leash on him for the purpose of getting him to the car. He's so jacked up at this point, any vehicle will do. In fact, he'll often try to run to ANY car in the driveway...kind of like the Price Is Right - which door will magically open and transport him to heaven on earth? But, I err on the side of caution because he still doesn't respond all the time when we call his name. He's improved over the last year, but he's inconsistent in his listening skills.

I open the front door. This is the door I always take him out of, but when it's car ride time, he drags me down those two front steps and turns towards the parked cars instead of meandering down the path for our walk. A new addition to our regular walking path is a bird feeder. And you know what bird feeders mean, right? Squirrels, of course! Just as I had opened the door, a squirrel dropped down from the bird feeder and took off into the woods.

In his excitement, Dudley pulled and yanked and dragged me toward the scurvy coward. In the two seconds it took to get halfway down the path, where we had to veer left to go to the car or right to continue the squirrel hunt, I said, "Dudley, we are going to DAYCARE." I didn't shout. I didn't yell. But I let that last word hang in the air.

The forward momentum stopped. His face contorted. I could see the debate in his mind: Squirrel. Must protect against squirrel. Must chase squirrel. Daycare. Must go in car. Must play.

Without loosing any enthusiasm, he veered left and ran to the car.

So I am working without my assistant today, but I know he'll be back on duty tomorrow.